Legendary film producer Darryl Zanuck once said, “The secret to success in Hollywood is giving the public what it wants before it knows it wants it.” In the spirit of that statement and in an effort to keep you ahead of the curve, I’m here to let you know that while you might not know it yet, David Yates’ The Legend of Tarzan is the summer movie you want to see … believe me.

Adhering to the spirit of the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels while telling its tale through a post-modern lens, this gorgeously rendered adventure brilliantly combines elements of old-fashioned adventure movies with a modern technical aesthetic while achieving something today’s superhero epics increasingly fail to do – provide us heroes with heart that succeed in moving us while providing the requisite amount of impressive derring-do.

Taking elements from Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, the script by Adam Cozad and David Brewer finds the titular hero, played with calm yet strong reserve by Alexander Skarsgard, at home in England, attempting to start a family with his beloved Jane (Margot Robbie) to fill the massive Greystoke Manor.

****

Visually dynamic, wonderfully realized by its strong cast and sporting a script of uncommon intelligence for a genre picture, The Legend of Tarzan is not simply the best movie of the summer but one of the best films of the year.

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